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album review: okkervil river

THURSDAY, MAY 05, 2011 |

Posted by: Siobhan Fludder

Their first album since The Stands Ins from 2008, Okkervil River's sixth full length, entitled I Am Very Far, expresses the distinct achievement of creating an intricately composed album. The details are subtle, but these subtleties are in fact the elevating elements that drive the album above a clever compilation of melodies, and rather demonstrate an innate knowledge and instinct for musical expression's soft beauty. It favors a contrasting arrangement, driving instrumentals with calm and peaceful tunes or sometimes excitable and scurrying melodies that are splashed against a vocal depth, which introduces an added layer of emotional exploration. Nothing is held back, yet the LP does not force its message upon the listener in high volume, but instead takes care in exacting out captured moments with the precise delicacy and power that most musicians can only hope to achieve.